Wow, great pic Hass, is it off a slide ? That's the Series poster from that season. Bill's Top Spot (orange shirt in background) was a restaurant in Picton that sponsored John Woodley among others. Pic taken in the pits at Ruapuna.

Wow, great pic Hass, is it off a slide ? That's the Series poster from that season. Bill's Top Spot (orange shirt in background) was a restaurant in Picton that sponsored John Woodley among others. Pic taken in the pits at Ruapuna.

Yes, some very interesting photos there - although a bit small and low resolution . And I'm not sure the Kawasaki rider with an "H" on his number plate is our Murray, as the caption says, unless he had taken over the entry of his team mate ;) ?

I sent a message on facebook to this gentleman pointing him to this forum, do you know him personally Nigel, if so it would be great if you could have him contribute some pics and stories .

Not sure if the link below will work, but that's a one I like with Randy M. and Vaughan C.

edit : sorry, no matter how I try, the links I post keep getting to the pic before or after the one I'm trying to link to...never mind, you see which one I mean...

Apologies to Ian Dawson, but there's just no way I can get a proper link to his pic, I have no choice but to copy it here

This pic is captioned as Ruapuna 74/75 , and the bikes liveries and also the numbers of VC and RM are different from Hasselhoff's pic - which means the latter is from the year after, 75/76, or maybe even 76/77, am I right ?

I never knew that Randy had come twice ( or more ? ) to the Marlboro Series . Dennis Ireland told me a funny story involving Randy, Croz and a toilet bowl ..... that surely can't be true, of course

True enough, but it came back to bite Croz a couple of years later when Randy embargoed having Croz as his team-mate in the Suzuki GP team.
Alongside Randy (who looked about 12 in those days) on the front row is the late Rod North on 103, the crasher from the black and white Timaru pic, and Jeff Sayle on J, his TZ350. #69 may well be Paul McLachlan. I'd say #s 114 and 200 would be local flyers, they are not immediately recognisable.

True enough, but it came back to bite Croz a couple of years later when Randy embargoed having Croz as his team-mate in the Suzuki GP team.Alongside Randy (who looked about 12 in those days) on the front row is the late Rod North on 103, the crasher from the black and white Timaru pic, and Jeff Sayle on J, his TZ350. #69 may well be Paul McLachlan. I'd say #s 114 and 200 would be local flyers, they are not immediately recognisable.

I'm not sure that the head down the toilet episode was the reason for the embargo!!! Randy and I were and have remained good mates but he would be the first to agree that he was an annoying brat. I think it was Jim Doyle ( his manager that eventually bankrupt Randy by neglecting to pay Income tax in the US) blowing smoke up his arse that caused it. His dad, Ed was with him and a nicer man you could not meet.He had a handshake that crushed your hand. I was earmarked to be Randy's minder in ChCh which was interesting. WE were driving down to Timaru 3 abreast in a ute and Randy decided he would sing "Oh what a morning"over and over again. I said if you keep going you are in the back and on and on he went. So we stopped on this cold morning and put him in the back. That little shit stood up in the back freezing cold and sung for the next hour as we sped down the highway... somehow we remained friends. He also brought out a 360 Yamaha dirt tracker and did demo laps at Templeton Speedway. He looked amazing as he could'nt come anywhere touching the ground but still had it sideways. ike built the Tz engine for him so can fill in some dot's and I think VC borrowed a fairing?

I'm not sure that the head down the toilet episode was the reason for the embargo!!! Randy and I were and have remained good mates but he would be the first to agree that he was an annoying brat. I think it was Jim Doyle ( his manager that eventually bankrupt Randy by neglecting to pay Income tax in the US) blowing smoke up his arse that caused it. His dad, Ed was with him and a nicer man you could not meet.He had a handshake that crushed your hand. I was earmarked to be Randy's minder in ChCh which was interesting. WE were driving down to Timaru 3 abreast in a ute and Randy decided he would sing "Oh what a morning"over and over again. I said if you keep going you are in the back and on and on he went. So we stopped on this cold morning and put him in the back. That little shit stood up in the back freezing cold and sung for the next hour as we sped down the highway... somehow we remained friends. He also brought out a 360 Yamaha dirt tracker and did demo laps at Templeton Speedway. He looked amazing as he could'nt come anywhere touching the ground but still had it sideways. ike built the Tz engine for him so can fill in some dot's and I think VC borrowed a fairing?

I'm not sure that the head down the toilet episode was the reason for the embargo!!! Randy and I were and have remained good mates but he would be the first to agree that he was an annoying brat. I think it was Jim Doyle ( his manager that eventually bankrupt Randy by neglecting to pay Income tax in the US) blowing smoke up his arse that caused it. His dad, Ed was with him and a nicer man you could not meet.He had a handshake that crushed your hand. I was earmarked to be Randy's minder in ChCh which was interesting. WE were driving down to Timaru 3 abreast in a ute and Randy decided he would sing "Oh what a morning"over and over again. I said if you keep going you are in the back and on and on he went. So we stopped on this cold morning and put him in the back. That little shit stood up in the back freezing cold and sung for the next hour as we sped down the highway... somehow we remained friends. He also brought out a 360 Yamaha dirt tracker and did demo laps at Templeton Speedway. He looked amazing as he could'nt come anywhere touching the ground but still had it sideways. ike built the Tz engine for him so can fill in some dot's and I think VC borrowed a fairing?

This is exactly the kind of gem I was hoping to collect on this thread : personal photos not widely published before.... I have been given permission by Shane Kelly from Auckland to copy to this thread some photos he had taken himself at the Pukekohe round of the very first Marlboro Series in december 1973, and that he had originally posted on the KiwiBiker forum . Many thanks to Shane for sharing these personal memories with us . I will post them one per post, to make quoting individual pics, for discussion for instance, easier .

This first shot will maybe ( ) bring a definite answer to a question I asked earlier : Pat Hennen can't have been riding the ex-Geoff Perry TR750 for the 73/74 series, since it was ridden by his mentor Ron Grant ... Also Trevor Discombe with #3

I think this may be Dennis Ireland.... he showed me an early pic of him wearing a similar Jarno Saarinen lookalike helmet, explaining that Jarno was his teenage idol and that he had his first helmet done as a replica .... I have e-mailed the picture to Dennis asking for his confirmation, but no reply so far . Does anybody know ?

I think this may be Dennis Ireland.... he showed me an early pic of him wearing a similar Jarno Saarinen lookalike helmet, explaining that Jarno was his teenage idol and that he had his first helmet done as a replica .... I have e-mailed the picture to Dennis asking for his confirmation, but no reply so far . Does anybody know ?

Yes Peter, I noticed that on the John Boote thread you wrote that the 73/74 series were too early for Dennis since he had only bought Jim Landrebe's TZ at the end of '74....which is why I wrote i "thought" it may be Dennis.... anyway I hope Dennis will check his e-mail and let us know....otherwise you're in for a walk across the railway footbridge to SPV

Luke, as far as I know ( this said with caution, since I wasn't there and you were...) Randy Cleek ( with a C ) only came to New-Zealand for the 74/75 series , together with his team mate Phil Mc Donald .

Luke, as far as I know ( this said with caution, since I wasn't there and you were...) Randy Cleek ( with a C ) only came to New-Zealand for the 74/75 series , together with his team mate Phil Mc Donald .

You are correct Phiippe....what year were the two Indonesians down on the TR500's with Mr Wylie?

Luke, as far as I know ( this said with caution, since I wasn't there and you were...) Randy Cleek ( with a C ) only came to New-Zealand for the 74/75 series , together with his team mate Phil Mc Donald .

Phil McDonaild had a huge accident in the states a few years back and I am not sure how he ended up? I became mates with Dave Aldana in Jakarta about this time and we used to write to one another. Whenever he wanted to mention Kel Carrurther's daughter he drew a pair of boobs and for Phil he drew a pair of spec's ( Phil had big black rimmed specs when he raced and in NZ was dating Don Emdes sister)... wish I kept those letters. We had a crazy time in Indonesia but as this site has a PG rating its best left unspoken

No it's not Jarno, Jim Landrebe had a replica but in blue : the TZ350, the helmet, and Jim's #77 were all passed on to Dennis Ireland.
The two Indonesians who came out under Dale Wylie's wing were Sarsito Sa and his brother Sidarto Sa, both of them were slow as a wet week and raced in the 74/75 series, same as Phil MacDonald and Randy Cleek. The reason I remember this is that after the success of the initial series won by Dale Wylie in '73/74, the organisers were keen to include a round at Bay Park for the second series in "74/75, for which, as series commentator, I became the advocate for : to persuade the Tauranga Motorcycle Club, under the presidency of Henry Harte, to adopt a round of the series. They went for it, but it meant that for that round, I did the advertising, formatted the programme, sold the programme ads, did the press releases for the local and national papers, arranged billetting for visitors, did the grid positions, was a judge on the protest committee, and did the circuit commentary. At their invitation, I went out to dinner the night before the meeting with Randy Cleek, Phil MacDonald and his father Norm (the original N of K & N), and with all that race day burden still to face, got a bad case of food poisoning. The last thing I needed on race day was Dale Wylie in my face, ranting and raving about the poor grid positions allotted to his two Indonesian charges : as it turned out, he was just saving face, and they were, as I'd guessed, bloody slow. Looking back, all that was an enormous burden, considering I was just 19 at the time...

Looking back, all that was an enormous burden, considering I was just 19 at the time...

That was very young indeed ! Thanks for the stories Glenn

Yes, the "partial only download" thing with Imageshack happens to me too now and then, but it usually works again a while later . Well, we're not paying for the service, so it's hard to complain too loudly....

Phil McDonaild had a huge accident in the states a few years back and I am not sure how he ended up?

Diverting a little from the thread's theme there, but since Phil Mc Donald raced in New Zealand...according to the excellent ( though only distantly related ) article linked below, he suffered a serious crash at Ontario in late 1974 and concentrated on the family business and his younger brother Sam's career after that . Check out http://www.superbike...com/001111c.htm , it's a very pleasant read ( well from an outsider enthusiast's point of view, for you former racers probably very ordinary ....)

edit 1: wait, hang on....if Mac Donald had this "career ending" crash at Ontario late in '74 , he can't have raced the 74/75 series then ? Oh, my my, another mystery to solve I'm afraid...

...and there are more ! Another set of personal pictures I had spotted on the KiwiBiker forum, posted by "Merv" who kindly gave me permission to copy them here . Merv mentioned that he doesn't look for recognition or real-name credits. I would like to point out however that these pictures were originally taken by Merv's brother when the two of them were spectating at Gracefield and Wanganui for the 76/77 Marlboro series. Sadly Merv's brother passed away a year ago and Merv found the pics while going through his brother's belongings and very generously chose to share them with fellow enthusiasts . I think they are a fitting tribute to Merv's brother since they have a lot of "feeling" in them, specially for amateur's pics.

Let's start off at Gracefield :

Graeme Crosby leads from John Woodley, Jean-Philippe Orban , #4 who is ????? , and our Stu with #1 .....